the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
A national disabled people’s organisation is to provide disability equality training workshops to staff from the controversial US-owned company that won the government contract to assess people’s “fitness for work”. Disability Rights UK (DR UK) will provide training to about 1 […]
Senior Labour figures have sent strong signals that the party will now be more willing to stand up for benefit claimants and attack the government welfare reforms that have damaged the lives of disabled people. The most high-profile example during this […]
Government contractor Atos Healthcare claims it has no idea if a former surgeon whose flawed assessment of a disabled man helped trigger his suicide is still testing people with mental health conditions for their eligibility for disability benefits. Disability News Service […]
The chief coroner of England and Wales has refused to act after it emerged that only one coroner has written an official report warning that lives could be put at risk by the government’s “fitness for work” test. Disability News Service […]
A disabled man who lost a leg to bone cancer says he has been left unable to travel to hospital for vital x-rays, after crucial evidence was ignored by an assessor testing his eligibility for the new disability benefit. Tom Carter […]
A coroner has demanded that the government takes action to prevent future deaths of disability benefit claimants, after concluding in a “ground-breaking” inquest verdict that a disabled man killed himself as a direct result of being found “fit for work”. It […]
A disabled teenager killed himself on the same day that pay-day loans company Wonga cleared out his bank account, leaving him without a single penny to survive on. Kane Sparham-Price, who had “numerous problems including those connected with his mental health”, […]
Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith appears set to scrap the “fitness for work” test championed by successive Labour, coalition and Conservative governments, but there are fears that its replacement could prove even more damaging to disabled people. Duncan Smith […]
The long-delayed release of government figures on the deaths of benefit claimants has added fuel to years of concerns about the impact of aggressive welfare reform on sick and disabled people. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) released two sets […]
New evidence proves that the controversial outsourcing contractor Atos should be stripped of all of its disability benefit assessment contracts, say disabled campaigners. Fresh concerns about the behaviour of Atos and its assessors emerged after Disability News Service (DNS) revealed last […]